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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126408
Overall winner Jim Fishback - fast. smooth and consistent. Charlie Hamill. 175cc class winner. had the third fastest time overalll AMA Two-Day ISDT Qualifier Fishback flies at Cal CityTwoDay toughie By Suzie Mann CALIFORNIA CITY . CA, APR . 22 For the second year in a row "Big Jim" Fishback topped the 500cc class and posted the fastest time overall, on his 400 IT Yamaha, a t the Sunland Sh amrock's Two-Day Trial. The event is part of the series of Two-Day Trials, held eac h year, to qualify riders for th e American team wh ich com petes in the International Six Days Trial in Septem ber. 8 It was a good weekend for Yamaha and Fishback as he , J ohn Fero (250 IT ) and 250 cc Class winner Terry Dav is (250 IT ) also won the Manufacturer Team com pe t it io n . Addit io nall y , Yamaha ride rs won three of th e four classes in the event; Charlie Hamill blitzed th e 175cc Class on his IT by such a large margin he was the only rider in that c1asss to win a gold medal! This year to earn a Gold medal, the top individual award in the Trial , a rider must post a time within 15 percent of the fastest rider in his class . No one succeeded in doing that in the I7Sccclass. Weather for the weekend was excellent, altho ugh a bit warm on Saturday. Dust posed a problem on Sa turday ~orning, pa rt icula rly in the special tests where the riders are set off 30 seco nds ap art. It was diffi cult for many of the faster riders to pass beca use of the dust. It seems as thoug h every few yea rs the Shamrocks' event is very difficult for th e average rider to fin ish . T his was one of those years . High speed a verages ove r very ro ck y te rra in around the Randsburg/Red Mountain allow ed for no problems if a rid er was to stay on time . Flat tires were th e order of the weekend with severa l riders having as many as four during the two days . The record number of flats in the shortest period of time goes to five time National Enduro Champion and top ISDT rid er Dick Burleson who suffered four flats during the last two th irds of the trial Sunday. This was Burleson's first ride at this event. He changed a tire on Saturday night but had to adjust it Sunday morning; the stem wasn't set properly. The rear tire went flat during the second special test . He rode th e test out on th e flat since he was using th e Sun rim with th e pins. instea d of. fa vored by desert riders, rim locks . It "wast ed th e rim ." It was downhill from th ere for th e rest of th e day. All of the specta tors a nd pit crew personnel were treated to very quick tire cha nges , whic h they cheered and a p p la uded, mu ch to Burleson 's su rp rise . " I gu ess they j ust d on 't get to see t ha t very much." he com mented after th e trial. " I feel that the Sham roc ks org a nized the event very well. T he speed ave rages were just rig ht for the goo d riders . wh ich is the way it sho u ld be in th ese events . a nd if you h ad any p robl em s it became di fficu lt to stay on time. " Bu rleson was sta nd ing fourth in th e 500cc class on Sa turday but dropped 18 minutes to fin ish on a silver medal after all of his flats Sunday. "My only cri ticism of the event is that I feel the Shamrocks should have laid out "grass track" type special tests instea d of the rock hill cross cou nt ry climbs which really don't relate at all to the type of special tests we will be riding at the Six Day ," he said. They could have done that near the impound area ; (which was located off of Goler Road) just as you come into Randsburg. The event was definitely not for the "fam ily enduro" riders this year. Only 66 out of the original 228 starters finished th e event and just 18 of those were on a gold medal th is year. Over half of th e en tries dropped out on Saturday. There were 99 bikes in im pou nd Saturday night and 90 of those started Sunday morning . Tim Fagg. one of t he riders to retire on Saturday summed up several rid ers' feelings when he said, ''I'm just not go ing to co nt inue . I know my lim its an d I' ve just used up th e next th ree months worth." Lon g tim e desert rider Jack Froeli ch put it another way. " I know that some of these riders here are rea lly seriou s ab ou t th is event a nd some of th em a re being paid to ride it; I just don't want to ge t in t heir way anymore thi s weekend ." The event was tou gh . Allegedly. to set the speed averages t he Shamrocks took their fastest rider's tim es for each of t he sections and bumped them about five mphl Even among all of the DNF's there were few if any complaints about the difficulty of the trial. Everyone seemed to feel it was a , very good test , including those who failed . O ne rider put it very well, " If everyone zeroed the course, what would be the qualifier part of it?" Playing catchup for the weekend wasn't limited to just Saturday and Sunday. The Suzuki Team truck